Review of the Düsseldorf International Boat Show 2018

The Düsseldorf International Boat Show, also known as boot Dusseldorf, is over for another year. In 2018, boot Dusseldorf was hugely successful, boasting a record-beating turnout of almost a quarter of a million visitors, who poured in over the nine days it took place in January. An indication of the global importance of this vast boat show can be seen in the fact that boating enthusiasts, yacht owners, and industry professionals attended from 94 countries around the world.

Nearly 2,000 exhibitors were at the 2018 edition of boot Dusseldorf, displaying a staggering range of boats, superyachts, and watertoys. Boot Dusseldorf also acts as a barometer for marine industry trends, whether that’s the latest marine technology, or innovative new yacht ownership solutions, such as shared yacht ownership models and elite yacht vacation clubs.

Growing Interest in Shared Yacht Ownership Models at Boot

The marine leisure industry is keenly cognisant of the rising public interest in luxury yacht ownership. This has led to a sharp rise in the amount of innovative shared yacht ownership solutions available.
Shared yacht ownership allows keen yachting enthusiasts, as well as those who simply long to experience the pleasures of the yachting lifestyle, to enter the privileged ranks of yacht ownership, without the prohibitive costs and responsibilities of owning, crewing and running a luxury yacht year-round.
One boot Dusseldorf exhibitor, SmartYacht, is at the forefront of this ever-increasing shift towards shared yacht ownership models. SmartYacht offers third-share ownership, quarter-share ownership, and an elite vacation membership club model on their global fleet of luxury yachts.
These innovative SmartYacht offerings proved very attractive to those boating fans at the show who either couldn’t afford a luxury yacht outright, or who could afford sole ownership easily, but don’t have occasion to use a yacht often enough to justify the expense.

Additionally, shared ownership appealed to existing yacht owners who were looking to reduce their costs through yacht share or vacation club bookings. Meanwhile, frequent yacht charterers were impressed by the dramatically cheaper option of chartering through SmartYacht’s vacation club program.
Boot Dusseldorf 2018 represented an outstanding success for SmartYacht, garnering 150 new yacht owners, yacht buyers, and yacht charterers, who chose to engage SmartYacht in order to follow the path towards a yacht shared ownership solution. This only goes to show the skyrocketing popularity of yacht co-ownership and co-usage models.

Watertoys and Workshops Major Attractions at Boot Dusseldorf

Famed as an extremely interactive boat show, boot Dusseldorf lived up to this reputation in 2018. The giant indoor surfing wave was a huge highlight for this year’s show attendees, while the returning fishing clinics, indoor creek diving tower and indoor sailing pool continued to impress.

Another major buzz-worthy happening at boot Dusseldorf 2018 was the ‘boat industry Oscars’, which presented the Best European boat awards in different categories on Flagship Night. Boot Dusseldorf 2018 also highlighted some of the meteorically rising trends in the marine world, such as electric drives and marine e-mobility, as well as the growing interest in houseboats and innovative shared yacht ownership solutions.
With 2018 the biggest year yet for boot Dusseldorf and its ground-breaking exhibitors, everyone’s already looking ahead with great anticipation to boot 2019.